terns 
I?  nr>o 


Letter  from  Bri 
Conf  Pam  12mo  #107 


Head  Quarters,  First  District,  Department  Mississippi  ) 
and  East  Louisiana  > 

Tangipahoa,  La.,  July  15,  1862.  ) 

TO  MAJOR  GENERAL  BUTLER, 

Commanding  United  States  Forces, 

New  Orleans,  Louisiana. 

G  r  x  k  R  a  i. :  —  I  have  received  petitions  from  Officers  of  the  1st  Re- 
ginunt  Louisiana  Partizin  Ringer:*,  touching  the  case  of  Henry  Castlf, 
Jr.,  n  private  of  company  If,  of  t^at  Regiment,  and  also,  an  application 
respecting  Tiios.  C.  rRtfNraoTON,  a  private  of  Capt.  Wilson  Tate's  compa- 
ny, of  the  same  Regiment,  and  I  deem  it  expedient  to  request  your  early 
consideratinn  of  the  subject. 

It  appears  that  private  Castle  was  captured  by  a  detachment  of  Federal 
troop*  in  the  vicinity  of  H  ito  1  II  >ug>,  on  or  about  the  seventh  3f  the  pre- 
sent month,  and  private  Pennington,  on  or  about  the  28th  day  of  June, — 
that  they  were  taken  to  New  Orleans,  and  are  held  either  there,  or  at  one 
of  the  Forts  in  the  vicinity,  in  close  confinement,  with  the  threat,  that  they 
are  to  be  tried  and  executed  as  members  of  a  Military  Organization  not 
sanctioned  by  tha  law*  of  civilized  warfare.  It  is  to  be  observed,  that  the 
first  great  law  of  nature,  the  right  ofselfdefer.ee,  is  inherent  in  communi- 
ties as  well  as  individual.  No  law  condemns  ihe  individual  who  slays  the 
robber  or  the  assassin  ;  and  no  just  law  can  condemn  a  community  for 
using  all  its  power  to  resist  the  Invader,  and  drive  him  from  their  soil. 
The  exercise  of  this  right,  so  universally  recognized,  becomes  an  impera- 
tive duty  when  the  invader,  as  has  been  the  case  with  the  Federal  troops 
in  this  district,  disregards  those  rules  of  warfare  recognized  and  respected 
by  all  civilized  nations,  and  adopts  that  code  which  lias  heretofore  been 
confined  to  the  rudest  savages. 

The  proof  of  this,  is  unfortunately  too  abundant  in  the  vicinity  of  Baton 
Rouge.  It  is  attested  by  helpless  women  and  children  flying  from  their 
burning  homes  ;  by  the  desolation  of  plantations — by  the  plunder  of  private 
property,  and  the  wanton  destruction  of  growing  crops ,  Such  acts  are 
crimes  against  humanity,  and  justify  all  men  in  taking  up  arms  against 
their  perpetrators. 

The  Independence  of  Nations  has  rarely  been  achieved  by  regular  Ar- 
mies. Our  own  Revolution — that  revolution  which  successfully  established 
the  great  principle  for  which  the  Confederate  States  arc  now  contending, 
that  "  all  Governments  derive  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the 
governed, " — was  mainly  fought  out  by  men  who  left  the  plow  at  the  news 
of  the  enemy's  approach,  and  returned  to  it  when  he  had  been  driven  back. 
It  may  be  conceded  that  in  Europe,  where  the  Governments  mainly  rely 
upon  large  standing  armies,  which  are,  as  much  as  possible,  disconnected 
with  the  people,  arid  where  the  policy  is  to  prevent  the  people  from  bear- 


[2  1 

ing  arms,  under  almost  any  circumstances,  some  very  absurd  refinements 
on  this  subject  have  been    asserted,  and  to  some    extent    tolerated.     But 

such  doctrines  have  never  been  recognized  on  this  Continent, — the  United 
States,  especially,  has  always  repudiated  them. 

The  various  Revolutions  which  have  agitated  the  Central  and  South 
American  States,  have  been  conducted  by  the  people,  frequently  without 
leaders,  other  than  those  chosen  upon  the  spur  of  the  occasion,  to  direct  a 
single  enterprise.  And,  to  recur  to  the  Revolution  of  our  Forefathers,  the 
history  of  that  immortal  struggle  abounds  with  instances,  where  the  hardy 
yeomen,  as  at  Lexington  anil  Bunkers  HilL  were  like  the  Clansmen  of  Rod- 
erick  Dim,  called  by  a  concerted  signal  to  some  "  Lanrfek  .Mead,"  and 
there  selected  their  officers  upon  the  very  field  ol  battle. 

But,  whatever  difference  of  opinion  may  exist  on  this  point,  it  has  never 
been  claimed,  even  by  the  most  stringent  advocates  of  legitimacy,  that  one 
Belligerent  has  any  right  to  complain  of  the  name  or  form  which  the  other 
may  choose  to  give  to  its  military  organizations.  The  right  to  adapt  these 
to  the.  peculiar  service  required,  has  been-.-universaily  conceded.  So  far,  in- 
deed, has  this  practice  be<m  carried  in  Naval  warfare,  that  piivatecrsmeii, 
41  the  Militia  of  the  Seas,"  with  charters  as  broad  as  the  Ocean's  bounds, 
are  recognized  as  legitimate  among  belligerents.  And  now,  indeed,  the  ex- 
traordinary spectacle  is  presented  to  the  contemplation  of  civilized  man,  in 
this  boasted  Nineteenth  century  of  the  Christian  world,  of  a  Nation,  claim- 
ing to  be  civilized,  in  violation  of  its  constitutional    obligations,  inaugurat- 

the  Anglo-Saxon  "icd^^f!  "WMfftttrefllto  frOITL  ,    ,    „      , 

This,  with  the  lederanJovermnent,  is  legitimate  warfare;  but  the  de- 
fei 

military 

Corps  of  Scouts  and  Guides  in  the  late  East  Indian  war.  are  cases  in  point. 
The  Confederate  States  claim  and  have  exercised  this  undoubted  right. 
The  formation  of  Companies,  Battalions  and  Regiments  of  Bartizan  Ran- 
gers has  been  specially  authorized  by  an  act  of  Congress.  The  officers  of 
tliis  corps  arc  commissioned  ;  the  men  are  regularly  mustered  into  service, 
receive  pay,  rations,  and  equipment  from  the  Government,  and  are  entitled 
to  the  same  privileges  and  governed  by  the  same  regulations  as  all  other 
troops  in  the  Confederate  service.  It  is  not  perceived  therefore,  what 
pretext  can  be  offered  by  the  Enemy  for  subjecting  the  members  of  this 
corps  to  a  different  treatment  from  that  extended  to  other  prisoners  of 
war.  Certainly  no  such  distinction  can  be  recognized  or  tolerated  by  us. 
The  Government  having  called  these  men  into  service,  is  bound  by  every 
obligation  of  good  faith  to  protect  them  to  the  extent  of  its  power  ;  and  if 
found  necesaary  for  their  protection,  as  well  as  for  that  of  numerous  unar- 
med citizens  who  have  been  subjected  to  outrages  unparallelled  in  civilized 
■warfare,  will  not  hesitate,  I  feel  constrained  to  declare,  to  resort  to  retalia- 
tion, even  to  the  extent  sanctioned  by  the  Jewish  law,  "an  eye  for  an  eye, 
a  tooth  for  a  tooth,  and  life  for  life." 

-  I  await  an  answer,  containing  an  explicit  declaration  of  the  intentions  of 
the  United  States  Government  respecting  these  prisoners. 
Very  Respectfully, 

Your  Obedient  Servant. 

DANIEL  BUGGLES, 

http  ://www.  arc  h  i  ve .  o  rg/dBt&i  js^ett$rfr<0>mlofii  gg  ©QOcp  a] 


ence  of  their  fircsidcE) lilk^oy p^ve^^fty sLitef^tPi«efS>  ^nd  Murder  !     In 
Military  organizations,  the  Polish    Lancers,    French    Zouaves,  and  British 


peam&lifc* 
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